Pirates lead WSC Gold Division

ROB VARELA/THE STAR
Moorpark College’s Heaven Silveira waits for the throw before tagging out Ventura College’s Allison Gibson as she attempts to advance to third base on a single hit by Ashley Cerda during their game at Ventura on Tuesday.

Ventura County Star

Veronica Garcia lugged a sub-.200 batting average into the batter's box.

Considering she had a lonely double in more than 80 plate appearances, her slugging average wasn't noticeably brighter.

Which, in her mind, made her a dangerous figure leaning over home plate with first place on the line Tuesday afternoon at Ventura College.

"I was due," Garcia said. "Really past due."

The freshman first baseman sprang out of her slump to smash a two-run, walk-off triple with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Ventura College softball team came from behind to edge cross-county rival Moorpark, 5-4.

"I really don't think my team was expecting that," said Garcia, who spent much of last weekend's tournament staring at the bunt sign. "It felt so sweet."

Garcia shared the feeling with her teammates by turning the infield into a celebratory mob scene.

"She needed it," said shortstop Ashley Cerda, who was 3 for 4 with a run scored. "The whole team needed it. That was the highlight of our season."

So far.

Defending champion Ventura (17-14, 10-2) now leads the Western State Conference's Gold Division by 1½ games and owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with the rival Raiders.

"Let me tell you how big that was," Ventura coach Sue Johnson said, "of all the top teams, we have the toughest schedule left."

An out away from first place with five games to play, Moorpark (20-12-1, 9-4) will look to regroup with doubleheader Thursday against visiting Oxnard.

"We needed that game right there," Moorpark coach Dave Fox said, "if only for the head to head."

Moorpark took a 1-0 lead in the first inning as sophomore Amanda Chatman led off with a three-base error to right field and scored on Nicole Checkie's RBI groundout.

Ventura answered in the bottom of the second. Alyssa Mendoza drew a leadoff walk and scored on Emily Heath's two-out RBI single to center field.

Checkie singled to left field, Heaven Silveira ripped an RBI triple onto the chalk of the right-field line and Taylor Cartwright followed with an RBI single through the left side for a 3-1 Moorpark lead through three innings.

Checkie follows Amanda Chatman's one-out single with an RBI double down the left-field line for a 4-1 lead after four.

Much of the game was a missed opportunity for the Pirates, who left runners in scoring position in the first, third and fifth innings and ran into an out at third base in the sixth.

"We had control of that game," Fox said. "But when you put runners on base for free, bad things happen."

Ventura pulled to within 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth, when Cerda singled, Ashley Thorpe was hit by a pitch and Candice Garcia and Alexandria Thorpe followed with RBI singles.